Rodi13

Hello Everyone,
I am so pleased to have found your forums. I have three dogs (an 11-year old Westy, Sophie, a five-year old rescued boxer, Duke and recently I got Lola from a wonderful local rescue, Molly's Place Rescue in Mechanicsburg, PA. I also have an African Grey parrot, Max, whom I raised since he was 2-weeks old. He is 13- years old now.
In addition to being the mother of three happy dogs and a parrot, I am the single mom of two adult daughters who live away from home (Pennsylvania).
I am a writer, and my memoir, The Gypsy Saw Two Lives was published in December of 2011. In addition to my love for dogs and writing, I am passionate about understanding how the human mind works. This fall I plan to take my last course required to earn my Master's in Counseling and Clinical Psychology.
I was searching information about how to teach my puppy more tricks, when I came about this website/blog (I too blog at Word Press -- awsome place to share!)
Lola is a lab mix, extreemely intelligent and of course a good retreiver. I was however a little shocked yesterday when I discovered a tick on Sophie and tried to get it out. Lola thought I was hurting Sophie and she bit me. I have mixed feelings about the incident. Is it normal for a dog to defend another dog in the pack even if it is against their owner?
I appreciate any thoughts on the subject and look forward to chatting with you. Thank you.

Welcome to the DTA! I ADORE Westies! My Sister has one, Annabelle, She's a very special little girl As to the defensive biting, I would be concerned that Lola is bonded more to Sophie than you. You may want to spend alot of one on one time with Lola, walking and training her seperately from Sophie. Strengthen her bond to you, rather than her bond to Lola.

Welcome to the DTA! I ADORE Westies! My Sister has one, Annabelle, She's a very special little girl As to the defensive biting, I would be concerned that Lola is bonded more to Sophie than you. You may want to spend alot of one on one time with Lola, walking and training her seperately from Sophie. Strengthen her bond to you, rather than her bond to Lola.[/quote

Thanks, Sara for the welcome and the good tips. I will keep you "posted")

WELCOME!!! Your dogs are ADORABLE!!!!! Is it just me, or does Lola look very similar to Shivon when she was a puppy??? What breed is Lola???View attachment 824

Thank you. You are right, Shivon and Lola look very much alike, even the white spots on the chest! I was told Lola is a lab mix. She is very intelligent, a retreiver and also very aggressive when she knows the environment. Please tell me more about Shivon's history and how she developed as an adult. All I know is that Lola came from the South with her sibilings. From what I understand it is still legal to use gas chambers there, and that would have been their fate, had the rescue not intervened. Thanks for welcoming us!

OMD, that's HORRIBLE!!!!! Who would do that to dogs?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Anyways, Shivon was never aggressive. I got her from the Toronto Humane Society (http://www.torontohumanesociety.com/) at 3 months old. She is an EXTREMELY happy dog. She can sometimes be cautious in new situations and if she has a bad memory of something (now it's just the slide) she is terrified of it. She is very smart and learns quickly. She was not too destructive but she takes our shoes out of the closet when we're not home. I think Lola (depending on the breeds in the mix) will grow u to be 30-35 pounds (shivon is 32 pounds) But BOY is Lola CUUUTE!!!!!!

Speaking about your comment, dogs laugh with their tails, I blog and post a lot of pictures of Lola and all my dog companions at www.lifewithbblola.wordpress.com (BB stands for beautiful and brilliant
How old is Shivon now? They both seem very healthy. I think Lola has some pit bull in her, but not sure. Do you know a reputable DNA testing lab? May be some day, I'll tesst her. What kind of advanced tricks does Shivon do? Do you belong to a club?

Shivon is 17 months old. Haha, I don't trust those DNA testing labs. It's hard to find a good one where they won't rip you off. Shivon knows many tricks (you can find them on my info page) I just got Shivon's Expert Trick Dog Title from Kyra Sundance's site. Our listing is here http://domorewithyourdog.com/pages/titleholders.html Right now, she is going to agility classes (level 2!!!!) at Doggie Central.

I'd be slightly concerned about the one dog biting you when you pulled a tick off other dog, too. Sometimes, when dogs gets excited, they can bite around, i have heard of two dogs who loved each other ---bite each other, when their human was attacked. But, usually, a dog usually has bite inhibition when it comes to their owner.

but, that said-----------
My old dog would bite anyone (owners included) if he thought anyone was attacking anyone else in the family. My old dog was very very nonpartisan in his 'punishments'----whoever he believed was 'at fault' for 'the problem' got a nip. Even his very very favorite family members, would get a nip, IF the dog saw that person as 'an aggressor' to another family member.

He never bit anyone otherwise, only during what the dog saw as "fights", the dog tried to break it up.

Most dogs are way into "keeping the peace", and many dogs 'correct' the person they feel is the 'aggressor' in the activity. My old dog would nip anyone who tickled someone too hard, or punched someone, and the boys wrestling really upset him,
as did watching football games. That dog was a character, and often fancied himself as a policeman, i guess.
It might not be impossible, your dog was trying to stop this 'attack' on the dog with a tick?? Now that you know this upsets the dog, next time, you may have to put that dog into another room when you remove a tick.

but, i can not emphasize to you how marvelously, tricks training strengthens a bond, and how satisfying this is to dogs. You can teach a dog a trick in short lessons, as short as only 5 or 10 minutes per day!! Gives a dog a chance to figure something out, a chance to use his mind, a chance to please his owner, dogs LOVE tricks training!!!

//but not sure. Do you know a reputable DNA testing lab? May be some day, I'll tesst her//

Most of these labs have been shown to be scams. Unless you have oodles of money and don't mind the risk of wasting some,i would not bother testing a dog's DNA. Anyone can set up a website and mail you a special Q-tip swab, and tell you they will do DNA testing to see what breed your dog is.

My neighbor did this, and the list of breeds she got back made me want to roll on the floor laughing. Not a sign of any of the breeds was visible in her dog, not a single trait at all. Most of the breeds were opposite of the dog we were looking at. But, someone made some money by sending her that worthless piece of paper....

But, who knows? there might be one who actually DOES test the dog's DNA....still, a little mystery in a dog can be fun.

I'd be slightly concerned about the one dog biting you when you pulled a tick off other dog, too. Sometimes, when dogs gets excited, they can bite around, i have heard of two dogs who loved each other ---bite each other, when their human was attacked. But, usually, a dog usually has bite inhibition when it comes to their owner.

but, that said-----------
My old dog would bite anyone (owners included) if he thought anyone was attacking anyone else in the family. My old dog was very very nonpartisan in his 'punishments'----whoever he believed was 'at fault' for 'the problem' got a nip. Even his very very favorite family members, would get a nip, IF the dog saw that person as 'an aggressor' to another family member.

He never bit anyone otherwise, only during what the dog saw as "fights", the dog tried to break it up.

Most dogs are way into "keeping the peace", and many dogs 'correct' the person they feel is the 'aggressor' in the activity. My old dog would nip anyone who tickled someone too hard, or punched someone, and the boys wrestling really upset him,
as did watching football games. That dog was a character, and often fancied himself as a policeman, i guess.
It might not be impossible, your dog was trying to stop this 'attack' on the dog with a tick?? Now that you know this upsets the dog, next time, you may have to put that dog into another room when you remove a tick.

but, i can not emphasize to you how marvelously, tricks training strengthens a bond, and how satisfying this is to dogs. You can teach a dog a trick in short lessons, as short as only 5 or 10 minutes per day!! Gives a dog a chance to figure something out, a chance to use his mind, a chance to please his owner, dogs LOVE tricks training!!!

//but not sure. Do you know a reputable DNA testing lab? May be some day, I'll tesst her//

Most of these labs have been shown to be scams. Unless you have oodles of money and don't mind the risk of wasting some,i would not bother testing a dog's DNA. Anyone can set up a website and mail you a special Q-tip swab, and tell you they will do DNA testing to see what breed your dog is.

My neighbor did this, and the list of breeds she got back made me want to roll on the floor laughing. Not a sign of any of the breeds was visible in her dog, not a single trait at all. Most of the breeds were opposite of the dog we were looking at. But, someone made some money by sending her that worthless piece of paper....

But, who knows? there might be one who actually DOES test the dog's DNA....still, a little mystery in a dog can be fun.

i LOVE "Dogs Decoded"! We have that film linked in some thread somewhere around here...it didn't get a lot of feedback,
but, i love that film.
Still, even though all dogs are decended from the gray wolf,
all dogs are unique individuals,
and
many breeds do have inborn, "bred-in" tendencies. Even a slight variation in DNA can make a vast difference in a creature.
Like humans, i think we all share over 99% of our DNA with each other, and the differences between YOU and ME, is less than 1/10th of 1%,
yet, someone might see YOU and ME as very different persons.

even an itty bitty difference in DNA can make a big impact in the creature.